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the village board.s October meeIing, Ihat group vOIed 3 10 2 against pursuing a buyout. Ominously. flood waters returned 10 Commerce in October for three weeks.5 For the time being, the pro- buyouI forces could do nothing. since a town could only apply for a buyout with the approval of iIs governing body, In November and December. 1993, many Iownspeople decided it was time to change Ihe composition of the village board, This group found a leader in board member Roy Jones. who campaigned for re- election to the board as a pro-buyOUI candidate. along with Ihree oIher Commerce citizens, In January, 1994, all four were elected 10 the board, The next lime Com- merce faced a destructi ve flood. the board would be ready to favorably consider a bUYOUI option.6 The "nexI time'. came in May, 1995, when !lood waIers rerurned to Commerce, in quantities much larger than 1993, The reason was thaI Ihe Ohio River. which empties into Ihe Mississippi down river from Com- merce, was high and acted as a kind of barrier 10 the Mississippi. in turn backing its waIers into towns like Commerce. This meant Ihat every house that had been damaged by water in '93 in Commerce. was damaged again, plus a few more, Residents knew the damage was greaIer. 7 According to resident Connie Thompson, "II's worse than '93, The water this year has gotten places it has never gotten before, The Iown's going to have 10 have financial help to get back on its feet:.s By May 25. Ihe State Emer- gency Management Agency (SEMA) in Jefferson CiIy was getting calls from Commerce residents asking abouI Page 28 joining the buyout program this Iime,9 The village board look action. Acting on the strength of the response. the board look a survey of damage in Commerce and found between 40 and 50 houses Ihat had susIained damage. The board also found over 20 vacant lots in the floodplain. and hoped to include the purchase of these in a proposal 10 SEMA. Hoping 10 do everything right. Ihe village board asked SEMA for personnel 10 help them with Ihe paperwork, and Ihe agency sen! represenIatives to Ihe .~ Open space in Commerce, Missouri, overlooking the Mississippi River Iown, WiIh their help. Commerce sent a bUYOUI application to Jefferson CiIy on November 8, hoping for a positive response from Ihe Governors Buyout Review Committee.lo The application coincided with the grant of addiIional money to Missouri 10 fund another buyout program that was similar to the one in 1993. This additional money became available because the state, using research compiled by SEMA, had begun to notice drastically reduced costs for emergency flood relief when compared 10 relief figures after the '93 flood, While the '95 flood waIers were generally lower. they were not that much lower. yet the cost in '95 was only $23 million dollars as compared with $390 million in '93, The reason was simple: there were fewer valuable properties in Ihe floodplain for flood waters 10 de- stroY.II In fact. beIween Ihe two floods. Missouri counIies and towns had purchased 3.260 homes in Ihe floodplains and were finalizing pur- chases of 1,000 more. Ofticials in St. Louis County esIimated that by May 1995. they had spenI $2,7 million to buy and eliminated 295 houses. which, in rum, had saved Ihe county $7 million in emergency flood relief payments during Ihe '95 !lood, 12 With savings like IhaI. Governor Camahan was amenable to conIinuing the program, The federal govern- men! accommodated Ihe Gov- ernor by allocaIing 52,6 mil- lion to Missouri for a fresh round of buyout.s, That was enough money for another 125 Missouri families to escape living in a t1oodplain, Commerce was Ihe single largesI recipient of IhaI grant and was allocaIed 51,756,767. The state would provide an additional $680.000 10 help Commerce pay the 25% matching share.13 SEMA assisted Commerce by holding a local public meeting 10 explain the program and sent personnel to help fill out the application fonns, By November 30. approximately 20 people had signed up as pOIential customers of the buyOUI program. 14 MIer the initial help of SEMA, Commerce hired a grant administrator. Laurel Moldenhauer. to administer the program. From her oftice in St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Commerce. Moldenhauer signed up an additional 20 residents.I5